Bangalore: A popular Kannada actor is the latest to be targeted for his stand against Hindutva organisations and remarks he had made about recognising the Lingayat community as a separate religious group.
Protesters have been tearing down posters of his action-thriller Athiratha and demanding a ban only because of lead actor Chetan Kumar's political stand.
The outspoken actor and social activist who belongs to the Lingayat caste has often favoured a separate religious identity for his community, angering the Hindutva groups.
While mainstream Sangh parivar organisations have desisted from commenting on his new movie, a fringe outfit that calls itself Azad Hind Sena (not to be mistaken for the Azad Hind Fauj founded by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose) has held protests and vandalised the film's posters and banners.
The Sena has not come forward to speak to the media. But it has sought a ban on the film that hit the screens on Friday. A simultaneous social media campaign has described Chetan as "anti-Hindu.
Asked by this newspaper for comment, the group, which runs an active Facebook page and an online publication, both named Veera Kesari, responded through the social media site: "Nobody can be reached through us."
Chetan confirmed the threat his movie faced and contested the allegations of being "anti-Hindu". He said the protestors were playing with the livelihood of hundreds of people associated with the movie.
"This movie has nothing to do with what I've been saying. If they have issues with what I said, let's sit down and discuss. Don't target the movie," he told reporters in Bangalore.
Saying he had joined the campaign to make Lingayat a separate religion this August, Chetan added: "I believe in equality and social justice based on the tenets of Buddha, Basavanna (the founder of Lingayat community), Dr B.R. Ambedkar and other progressive people."
"I am not anti-Hindu but I am against Hindutva as there is a difference between the two. They are merely twisting my words to make me sound anti-Hindu. These people don't believe in a democratic process, which is why they adopt such methods using force," said Chetan, who has also spoken out against the killings rationalist M.M. Kalburgi and journalist Gauri Lankesh.
The RSS has distanced itself from the protest and the vandalism by the Sena. "There are so many such small groups that carry out such protest. They have nothing to do with us," said an RSS spokesperson.
"We don't know too much about them and why they protested, although we know that Chetan has been making political statements. But we don't support this kind of vandalism," said the spokesperson.
Sa Ra Govindu, the president of Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce said: "Appropriate action will be taken once the film producers file a complaint."
Govindu, a doyen of the Kannada film industry, said matters appeared to be ebbing. "We are watching the situation just to ensure it doesn't flare up. But from what we know, things are cooling down," Govindu said.
In April, top Tamil actor Sathyaraj, who played Kattappa, had to apologise to help release Bahubali 2 - The Conclusion after pro-Kannada groups threatened to disrupt shows for remarks he had earlier made against Kannadigas.
